The University of Waterloo rose 17 places to be ranked 152nd in the world in 2015, according to Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a UK firm that released an annual ranking of world universities today.
Earlier this year, QS ranked Waterloo 20th in the world for its work in Mathematics, 24th for Computer Science and 48th in the world for Geography.
QS made significant changes to the methodology used to calculate their ranking this year. The changes are designed to normalize the number of citations in academic publications between research disciplines with the aim of providing a fairer comparison of universities’ research impact.
“I am encouraged that this ranking recognizes the world class research, scholarship and innovation that takes place at the University of Waterloo,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor of Waterloo. “I applaud QS for their efforts to better represent the work of research intensive universities, in particular unconventional innovation centres like ours that do not have a medical school.”
Waterloo is among just eight Canadian universities ranked in the top 200 in the world and is listed seventh of the Canadian schools. In April, QS ranked three subjects at Waterloo in the top 50 in the world and eight other subjects among the top 100 – an increase of subjects in the top 100 from seven to 11.
In 2014, Waterloo became one of only 11 universities in the world to earn a 5+ star rating in the QS Stars rating which evaluates universities against over 50 different factors. QS introduced the star rating system to help future students make decisions about which school to attend, looking at criteria such as the employability of graduates, teaching, sports facilities, and many others.
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings ranks approximately 700 universities overall and in five faculty areas: Engineering and Technology, Life Sciences and Medicine, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Arts and Humanities.
